


We Are the Jack O' lanterns In July, Setting Fire To the Sky

by i_amthecosmos



Series: The Phoenix Verse [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Blowjobs, Consensual Underage Sex, Friends to Lovers, Grinding, Growing Up Together, Kissing, M/M, captain hook is a pervert, dr. facilier isn't much better, mal and evie don't factor here, the Isle was terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 12:38:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_amthecosmos/pseuds/i_amthecosmos
Summary: What if Jay made friends with Carlos in childhood, instead of Mal?





	We Are the Jack O' lanterns In July, Setting Fire To the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> An idea I had about how different Jay and Carlos would be if they had been friends since they were little. Title from Fall Out Boy.

_Jay is seven, Carlos is five_

Jay’s first memory of Carlos was at the marketplace. The boy had been there and his scary mother had just walked off, leaving him. Jay saw a freckled boy with black and white hair, huddled in the corner, crying. 

Jay didn’t know what to say to the boy, but he crouched down next to him. The boy tried to make himself smaller, until Jay held out a trinket he’d stolen earlier. The boy looked at him with suspicion for a minute, then carefully took it. 

They sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes, until Jay’s dad called him. 

The next time he saw the boy was a few months later. Jay went over to him right away. “Hey,” he said. The boy just stared at him, but he smiled slightly. “Where’s your mom?

The boy pointed at a woman who was screaming her head off about the rotten apples. Jay couldn’t understand when adults did that. That was just what apples looked like. The boy watched her, and seemed like he would cry again. Jay took his arm.

“Come with me.” He took the younger boy by the hand and led him to a less crowded part of the market. “Do you want to play a game?” The boy looked like he didn’t know what that was, but after a minute, he nodded. 

“Okay.” Jay was whispering, and had a hand on the younger boy’s back to steady him. He was shaking a little. “The game is, find something someone has and try to take it without being caught. You have to be quiet and quick. Do you think you can do it?” 

“I don’t know.” The boy looked around at everyone milling between the rotten fruit and canned meat stands. There was a woman in a baggy coat, who had what looked like a watch chain poking out of her pocket. He looked back at Jay, who nodded. 

“Looks easy. Go try.” The boy scurried over quickly, and stood close to her for a minute, like she was his mom. Then he slipped it out, and headed back. The woman didn’t notice, but someone else did. 

“Hey!” The white-haired boy broke into a run, heading for Jay. Jay grabbed his hand, and they ran down an alley, fast as their little legs would go. They ran to the end and then cut through to another one, before Jay realized nobody was chasing them. 

“I did that wrong,” the boy said, with tears in his eyes. “I got caught, I lost the game.”

“No, you did okay, you still got it,” Jay said. “Let’s look at it.” The boy took the watch out. It was tarnished, but it still worked. “Oh that’s good. Can I get it for my dad’s shop?” He figured that the kid would just hand it over, he was so young after all. The boy looked at him, puzzled. 

“Are you Jay?” Jay nodded. “I’m Carlos. You’re going to take it? Can I get something for it?” Jay thought that was a pretty smart question, and figured that Carlos was bright for his age. He hadn’t expected that.

Jay looked Carlos over. He seemed skinny, and Jay thought a bit, then gave the watch back. “Stay here, I’ll be back,” he said. Jay went down the alley, heading back toward the marketplace. 

It only took him a few seconds to get what he needed, then he was running back. “Here. Trade.” He handed Carlos a stale half-loaf of French bread and some cheese with only a couple of mold spots. “Now you have breakfast. Can I have the watch now?” 

Carlos smiled. “Okay.” He gave Jay the watch and sat on the ground to eat. He had finished most of it by the time they both heard an unholy shriek as Carlos’s mother noticed he was gone. “I have to go,” he said, and then handed Jay the leftover crust of bread and the rind of the cheese. “Bye.” 

“Bye.” Jay remembered then that he hadn’t eaten this morning either. He finished the bread and the rind, and walked back to his dad’s shop. He wondered when he’d see Carlos again. He was fun to play with. 

He did see Carlos again. And again. Jay liked being around him, he liked having someone to steal with. Carlos picked it up quick-he looked so lonely and lost, that nobody thought of him as a threat. He even did better than Jay, sometimes. In return, Jay made sure they both got something to eat. It was nice. He wasn’t a friend though. Isle kids didn’t have those. 

…

_Jay is eleven, Carlos is nine_

Jay wasn’t good at school. He had a hard time with letters and holding still. His father didn’t care either, saying all that mattered were his hands and his quickness. It wasn’t like they even had tests, all that much. 

Carlos was too good, and people noticed. He got beat up sometimes, until Jay made it clear that Carlos was under his protection. Then Carlos walked to classes with him, often in the same ones as him although he was younger.

Sometimes, Jay spent time in Carlos’s tree house, watching him while he read.”Why do you like to read so much?” Jay said Jay was poking at the skin on his arm, wishing he had a tattoo. “It’s not hard for you?” 

“I guess not,” Carlos said when he looked up. Carlos was still a skinny kid, with lots of freckles and big ears. He looked young, but he had the mind of someone older. “Do you have problems, because I know you don’t like to.” 

“Hey, fuck off,” Jay said, on instinct. Never admit weakness. “I don’t need anyone’s help.”

If Carlos was upset by that, he didn’t show it. He just gave Jay a flat stare. “Okay. But remember, you brought it up.” Carlos went back to his book. Jay watched him read, and it made him restless. Maybe it was time to go. But he didn’t want to, he stayed where he was, watching Carlos. He looked back up. 

“What?”

“Could you read to me?” 

Carlos smirked, and read a chapter of his book to Jay. It was about science, about chemicals and other things he had no knowledge of. It was hard to follow, but Carlo’s voice made it easier. Then he closed the book. “I have to clean up before mom gets here. You can stay if you want.” They he headed down the tree and went inside.

Jay picked up the book, and tried to pick up where Carlos left off. It was hard, but he read five pages in a row. 

…

“Okay, here’s how we’re going to make this.” Carlos had a bunch of scavenged trash that he was trying to make into...something. Jay had already forgotten. “Get the tape.” 

Jay got the old electrical tape and fixed everything together. “Thanks. You’re a better minion than Harry and Jace.” 

“Fuck you. You’re my minion.” Carlos just grinned, devious. “Anyway, I have to go. I need to get stuff for the shop. You coming?” 

“No, gotta figure this out more. You go ahead.” Carlos went back to his work, absorbed. Jay climbed down the tree and went off to work. 

He made three scores and one near-miss and that was it. He didn’t even want to face his dad. , not wanting to be yelled at or hit. So instead he stayed out, wandering the streets until he found himself at the tree house again. 

Carlos was asleep in there, shivering from the cold. Jay laid next to him, and put his jacket over the two of them. Carlos moved in his sleep, getting closer. Jay put an arm around Carlos’s shoulders, and fell asleep.

He woke up alone, and figured he might be late for school. So he left. 

…

_Jay is thirteen, Carlos is eleven_

Jay had to admit it, puberty hit him like a truck. He shot up in height until he was towering over the other kids, and constant running and parkour kept him in shape. Next to him, Carlos now looked like a skinny younger brother. 

Now Jay had a new technique for getting people away from their belongings. He would flirt with girls and women, getting into their space so well they never noticed their jewelry missing. It worked very well. Soon, he had something tangible with each milestone. His first kiss: a small gold ring. The first time he touched a girl over her clothes: a bracelet. His first time-well, his first time: a necklace.

He would still meet with Carlos in the tree house, and was his assistant with his experiments. But after a while, Carlos started to ask questions. 

“What does it feel like to kiss somebody?” 

Jay helped wrap the wire around Carlos’s new experiment. “Kinda wet, kinda exciting. It feels good. But I have to remember not to get so carried away that I forget to take what I want.” Jay looked at their notes-his reading had gotten so much better thanks to Carlos. “Okay, now we need that rubber bit for insulation.” 

“Yeah,” Carlos handed him some of the old dog toys his mother had stashed. “It just sounds interesting. Do you think I could try it?” 

Jay paused. “You want to seduce girls?” 

Carlos shrugged. “Maybe not girls.” 

Wow. Jay had his suspicions, but he’d never expected Carlos to say something at this age. “I don’t think you should. You’d only get dirty old men, and they could hurt you. Wait until you can be sure you’ll get away. Okay?” 

“I can take care of myself.” Jay took the cut-apart dog toy and threw it at him. 

“Asshole. You’ll be in over your head. I can’t protect you all the time.” Carlos just glared at him. “What? I can’t.” 

Carlos was silent. Then he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small pocket knife. He flicked it open, holding it out. Jay looked at it, a little impressed. 

“Not bad. It’s not even rusty. Have you been practicing with it?” 

“Yeah.” Carlos nodded. “I’ve been trying to open it quickly. I’m getting better.” 

“Show me.” Carlos closed it, then flicked it open.” That’s not bad, but you need more practice. Make sure you’re perfect with it,” Jay said. “If I have to rescue you, I will, but it won’t be easy. So don’t get caught.” 

“Good to know.” Carlos put the knife away and turned his attention back to his invention.

“Good to know what?”

“That you’d rescue me.” Carlos didn’t look up when he said it. Jay decided not to comment on that, and they kept working in silence.

Carlos didn’t actually change his tactics. He kept looking lost and blending into the background. But Jay hoped he was looking after himself. The fact that he even brought that up was bad enough. Jay tried to keep an eye on him, but he still had to make his own scores. 

Sometimes, you just had to hope. 

…

_Jay is fifteen, Carlos is thirteen_

“What are we working on today?”  
Carlos shrugged. “I’m still doing the research. It might be boring for you. Maybe we can meet up when I’m done. We haven’t slid down any buildings today.” Jay grinned. Carlos was nearly as good as him now.

“I can spent an hour helping you.” Jay didn’t really want to go out yet. “Scoring is getting kind of boring, actually. And I kind of like that book we’ve been reading.” 

“The book on electricity? Yeah, me too.” Carlos gave him a wicked grin. 

Carlos had changed as he got older. He was more calculating, and there was a slight debauched look he had sometimes. Jay could see him trying it out on boys Jay’s age, but never him. Jay never mentioned it, but tried to keep an eye on Carlos when he got that sly look and rolled his hips when he walked.

“Are you whoring?” Jay had asked Carlos one time. They were having their morning coffees on the roof of a building they squatted sometimes. Carlos looked at him like he was crazy. “I mean, I don’t want you to, but...” Carlos had shrugged and drank some of his coffee. 

“I’m not whoring. I don’t want Dr. Facilier to think he can pimp me out.” The school headmaster was rumored to have a lucrative side business going on. “I might be teasing a little. Don’t worry, I’ve got my knife with me.” 

“Okay.” Jay didn’t press it. Then a week later he saw Captain Hook with a pair of crutches and some gauze wrapped around a wound to his leg, and stole Carlos a beer in celebration. Somebody had to get that pedo back for what he liked to do to boys.

Jay was less amused when he caught Carlos with Jonas, making out near the docks. Jay knew that Jonas was about Carlos’s age, and it was nothing serious, but the sight of Carlos with his head thrown back and Jonas kissing his neck enraged him. He wasn’t even sure why-Carlos didn’t belong to him. 

He just barely kept himself from rushing over there and pulling that pirate fuck off of his...friend? Huh. Instead, Jay watched from a distance, until Carlos broke away, winking at Jonas while wiping his mouth. It made Jay want to punch him, or to kiss him. He didn’t know. 

As Carlos walked away, Jay saw him put a hand in his pocket to check the money he’d taken from Jonas. Jay knew he should be proud, but instead he was just so confused. What had he created? Then he remembered that he couldn’t let Carlos catch him watching, and got out of there. 

He didn’t try to seduce any girls that night. The idea made him a little sick. Instead, he stayed at his squat, curled on the floor in a dirty blanket. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the shelf at his father’s store.

He avoided Carlos for a few days after that. He tried not to look at the confusion on Carlos’s face when Jay made excuses, or just pushed by him. After a while, he came back, and Carlos didn’t ask any questions. If you were never supposed to be friends, then you couldn’t really fight or make up. You could just come and go at will. Jay thought so, at least. 

_Jay is nearly seventeen, Carlos is fifteen_

“Okay,” Carlos said, looking at his contraption and wiping the sweat off his brow. “We haven’t failed. We’ve just found one thousand ways it won’t work.” 

“I know, but I still want to punt that thing right out of this tree house,” Jay said. They had been up here for a couple of hours, with new books they’d gotten from the Forbidden Library. Carlos snuck them out and nobody even noticed. Carlos was hellbent on finding a way to break the barrier, and Jay was entirely for that.“We’ve tried so hard. What are we missing?”

“I don’t know.” Carlos looked frustrated. “Maybe we should get out of here for a while.” 

“Where would we go?” Jay wasn’t sure he wanted to go out that night. It was too hot, and also he didn’t want to see anyone else. They could go hang around the streets, but they were too well-known. Jay’s reputation as a seducer and a thief was nearly outclassed by Carlos’s. The fact that Carlos seemed to exclusively target boys made him stand out. Just last week Jay had to hide Carlos from an angry father, convinced that Carlos had turned his son gay. 

(When Jay asked Carlos if it was true, he just shrugged.)

“I don’t know, go out and see what’s happening.” Carlos brought out a bottle he’d swiped earlier that day. He took a sip, then handed it to Jay as he frowned at his invention. “I’m missing something there.” 

Jay watched the jaded boy in front of him, wondering where the wide-eyed one he’d met so long ago had gone. Carlos never cried anymore, he didn’t even seem upset much. He’d hardened himself. Jay knew it was his fault, but sometimes he missed the innocence his friend once had. Jay let that thought go. Innocent things died on the Isle. Carlos was being smart.

“I don’t know,” Jay said, involving himself into the conversation. “Maybe those wires there need to be in different places?” He’d picked up a lot hanging out in the lab with Carlos, but he didn’t always articulate it well.

“Oh yeah, thanks.” Carlos rearranged the wires. “Okay, on three,” he said, and Jay reached for the on switch. “One...two...three.” Jay flipped the switch.

The invention whined loud enough to be heard at Bargain Castle, and then a blue bolt of light shot right through the roof of the tree house and blew a hole through the magic barrier. Jay and Carlos watched as their little TV spun through a half-dozen channels, then the barrier seemed to repair itself. It was over soon as it started. 

“Holy shit,” Jay said. “You did it.” 

“We did it,” Carlos said. “Oh my evil. We did it.” 

Jay looked at Carlos, at his pouty mouth and big eyes, and then he was kissing him, running his hands over Carlos’s sweaty shirt. Carlos pulled it off and threw it out of the tree house, then went back to taking Jay’s mouth. 

(And how did he wind up the one not in control? He couldn’t remember.) 

Then Carlos had Jay on his back, away from the dangerous chemicals, and Carlos was straddling him. Jay looked up at his face, amazed. He could see how Carlos did as well as he did. He was irresistible. “I’ve wanted this for a long time,” Carlos said, and then kissed him again. 

Jay kissed back, running a hand down Carlos’s back. “Yeah,” he said. Finally, it all made sense, how seeing Carlos work the boys of the Isle bothered him. How he was willing to be second to Carlos when they worked on his inventions. It all made sense now. 

Carlos kissed him again, moving so his body was pressed up against Jay’s, and Jay clung to him. He didn’t want to stop, he didn’t want to let go as Carlos moved against him. They ground against each other until Carlos pulled back and shoved Jay’s pants down. Jay didn’t wear underwear, so he was exposed in the dim light of the tree house. 

“You’re mine,” Carlos said as he moved down Jay’s body. “Do you understand that? You’re mine.” Those beautiful eyes stared into Jay’s, until Jay nodded his agreement. As Carlos bent down, Jay closed his eyes. He’d never belonged to anyone except his father, who hated him. Maybe being Carlos’s wouldn’t be so bad. Then Carlos licked up his dick, and his brain stopped working. 

Nothing changed. They both hung out and ran hustles and escaped notice when Auradon tried to figure out who the hell broke through the barrier. They laughed and stole booze and anything else they could.

Everything changed. Jay let Carlos run their capers during the day. At night, he was underneath Carlos, letting him have him anyway he wanted. They found a squat that was all theirs, and basically lived in it. They even moved the science lab in.

And Jay resented giving up control, sometimes. But mostly it was a relief. He’d created this Carlos, had made him over in his own image. He’d done it so well that now Carlos was better than him, and instead of making him angry, it was the best thing.


End file.
